People often send other users documents and images. These files are often of different formats, as a user could send a Microsoft Word file (.doc file) or a GNU image manipulation program (GIMP) image (.xcf) via email, instant messaging or even on physical media.
There is a problem in a desktop such as Linux desktop, where people send files that are not recognized by a remote user. This might happen if a user sent a remote user a “.xcf” formatted image, when GIMP was not installed at the remote user's machine. In this case the remote user would get the “file not recognized” dialog, and would be left to search for a program manually to open this file. This requires for the remote user to know which program to use to open the file.
Conventional methods typically will prompt a user whether the user wants to search, for example, over the Internet, for such a program to open the file. However, the program to open the file may be distributed in multiple sites having multiple versions. The user has to know which version is the most appropriate for opening the file.